They Say That You Marry Your Mother
by Raven613
Summary: they say that you marry your mother, he hoped that wasn't true. Series of stories showing the progression from friendship to romance and everything in between. Futurefic.
1. Prologue

They say that you marry your mother.

He had heard that phrase years ago, though he wasn't entirely sure where. As a child the phrase meant nothing to him. Into his teenage years, that time when finding your significant other and planning your life after high school became the goal of many others his age, his mind would pull up those few simple words. Why on earth would he marry a girl like his mother when he did every thing he could to stay away from her? Yet the phrase made it seem like it was inevitable, that any girl he found and was determined to marry, would become like his mother.

His parents were not exactly grade A parenting material, often he wondered why they had decided to have a child in the first place. Kadic, in his school years, had become a reprieve to get away from them. His father's disapproval of whatever it was he did, it was easy to escape him when he was miles away. His mother was different, she would never insult him, never raised a hand against him, yet it the way she acted around him and the little things that she said and did that always just managed to get under his skin.

He had decided early on in his teenage years, much in thanks to his mother, that marriage was something that he didn't need. Something that he had sworn off altogether. He had stepped off the bus on his first day at Kadic determined to just get through school. He was uninterested a long term relationship and tried to make that as clear as possible. He didn't want commitment, their girly obsessions over him, or to find a woman who was just like his mother. Solitude, he decided, suited him just fine.

And then Ulrich Stern met Yumi Ishiyama in that martial arts class, and his whole look on life was turned upside down.


	2. Violence

So I hope that people enjoy this. It's the first time I've actually written something and not immediately scraped it. So please continue reading and enjoy. These are just little blurbs of topics that I thought of off the top of my head (if that makes any sense). Your comments and critiques are welcomed because I'd love to try and improve my writing a little more.

If any of you have an idea for a topic I could write about please let me know. I know how I want this story to end and some events I want in between. But since I write these like oneshots if anyone wants to see any topics covered in between let me know.

* * *

Violence

* * *

His mother hated violence.

Hated it to a point that, he thought, she was almost violent in her attempts to keep him away from it. Keeping him away from TV shows that were deemed to violent and degrading for him to see. He was never aloud to play around and wrestle with the other kids, to go and watch sporting events, hell, he had just barely been aloud to play soccer, only because of his father insisting that the boy had to be good at something.

But she always thought of it as degrading. Just a bunch of men fighting each other for dominance, to prove who was better, faster, stronger. It was just something she felt that any child of hers could do without. He would come home from his soccer games, all proud and sweaty, yet she would just give him that look. As he grew older, that disapproved look would often fall upon him whenever he returned home from one of his martial arts lessons, they weren't something that she approved of in the first place. But his father allowed him to go and it was a great way to get away from both of them three nights a week. Yet he would always come home to her and yet another reminder that he was only degrading himself with such barbaric activities.

'Violence Ulrich, such as your sports and your activities, is not something I want you exposed to. It will turn you into some kind of monster.'

* * *

When he opened the door into the apartment the first thing Ulrich noticed was the lack of sound.

Not to say that it was normally noisy, in fact his small home was almost always quiet. No, what it lacked was the noise of another occupant. There were no books being flipped through, the scratch of a pencil on paper was absent, no annoyed huffs when an apparently unsolvable problem presented itself it the many college textbooks that were always scattered around the place.

In short, Yumi wasn't home.

Which was a bit odd. With a final coming up in one of her classes Ulrich had spent the past few days watching his best friend slash roommate study tirelessly. Fear of a failing grade kept her studying for hours. Only stopping when he physically dragged her back to her room and ordered her to sleep. But this behavior was hardly uncommon. He had learned soon after she had moved into the spare bedroom that this was her normal behavior when presented with an upcoming final.

It worried him a little, she normally left him a note or texted him to let him know she was going somewhere, since she sometimes tended to stay out late, often with a few other people from her class that she studied with. But a search of the kitchen showed her books neatly stacked on the small peninsula that served as their table with no note to be seen, and his phone reported no new messages since he last checked. But then again she had been so stressed these passed few days he figured she had probably just forgot and left.

Her phone lay on the coffee table in the living room and he knew she would never go far from the apartment without it. He picked it up and walked back into his bedroom. Throwing the bag containing his soccer uniform onto the floor by his bed, he changed into workout clothes and placed both of their phones into his pocket. If she left without her phone she didn't plan on going to far. And with how stressed she'd been lately, he knew exactly where she was. So he locked the door behind him, and started down the street.

* * *

The small dojo was owned by a man who just so happened to be very good friends with Yumi's father. When the two of them had come in for lessons one time back when he had been in Kadic, the man had taken one look at Yumi, asked her who her father was, and then proceeded to tell the both of them that no payment for anything would be necessary and they could come in and do whatever they pleased whenever they wanted. In fact, one of the main reasons Yumi had moved in with him in the first place was due to his apartment's closeness to the small building.

To say that she spent a lot of time here would be an understatement.

Sure enough as he walked through the door he could she her near the back. A quick bow to the owner and he made his way over to her. In the back was located what Ulrich would consider a boxing ring that was often used by anyone wanting to spar. Yumi was by it, beating the stuffing out of a sandbag with a face scribbled on it that was often used to teach the younger kids who came in for lessons. He stood back and watched her for a minute, best let her finish before he interrupted her.

After about five minutes he walked up and gently tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped slightly and whipped around. Pulling the headphones she had been wearing out of her ears. He could hear the beat of the music from here, no wonder she hadn't heard him approach.

"You forget something?" He held up her cell phone and she gave him a look before reaching into her pockets and realizing that her phone was indeed absent.

"oh, thanks, I just needed to get out for a while. Didn't realize I forgot it." She slid the phone into her own pocket as Ulrich looked over his shoulder towards the ring. Turning back to Yumi her motioned over his shoulder towards it.

"Since I'm here, you wanna go a round?"

She looked over his shoulder to the ring then back at him. "You sure? I mean it's been awhile…"

"You saying I'm rusty? Or are you afraid I'll beat ya?"

She smirked "fine, you're on."

Electronics and Ulrich's sweatshirt were discarded by the ringside. Quickly they bowed and dropped into their stances. Ulrich was steady. Yumi, on the other hand, had a slight bounce in her step and made the first move. He dodged the punch to his abdomen and ducked the kick towards his head. Sparing like this had benefits for both of them. Yumi got a better way to get rid of all that stress by trying to beat the hell out of him, and Ulrich got to work on his reflexes. Dodging Yumi's kicks was great practice for when he was on the field dogging soccer balls to the head.

As a teenager he had admired her body and how she had managed to perfect her stances and techniques. She was able to move so fluently. Her kicks and punches and steps were smooth and went well together. It was one of the many reasons he had agreed to meet her for a rematch in the gym that day, he had wanted to see how it was possible for someone to move like that.

Often times, now a days, he found himself admiring her body for a completely different reason. In hindsight, He probably should have been more focused on the match than her.

Especially when her kick connected to the side of his head.

* * *

His vision spun as he forced his eyes open and tried to figure out where he was and why the hell his face hurt so badly. He could hear voices all around him.

"Cool! Mom, Dad did you see that? She knocked that guy out! Can I learn how to do that!?"

"Sensei, she didn't kill him, did she?"

"Jeez, you hit him hard enough?"

"Alright, off my back it was an accident alright. Ulrich, you okay?"

He felt her hand on the side of his face as Yumi leaned down to look at him. He looked up at her. "What happened?"

"Sorry, I thought you were paying attention." The man standing behind her laughed. She turned and glared at him while she helped Ulrich up. "How about instead of standing there you make yourself useful and get an ice pack."

He flinched at her tone and ran off. Ulrich gently placed his hand on the sore side of his face, Yumi frowned. The man re-entered the ring and tapped Yumi on the shoulder.

"I think you may have a black eye Ulrich, sorry." She grabbed the ziplock bag of ice out of the hand of the older man who had laughed at him earlier and gently pressed it against his eye.

"Well this will serve as a lesson for me." He smiled slightly as he got to his feet and took the makeshift icepack from her. "Can we get out of here? I'm a little tired of being stared at cause I just had my ass handed to me by someone half my size."

Yumi laughed as she grabbed their stuff off the floor. "Yeah, lets go home."

* * *

Once he was settled on the couch Yumi threw the now dripping baggy of water in the sink and got him a frozen icepack out of the freezer, after checking his now swollen eye she handed him the icepack and settled onto the couch beside him.

"I'm sorry."

He tore his remaining eye away from the TV to look over at her. "It's not your fault, I should have been paying attention."

Yumi sighed "Maybe I should just try and be a little less violent, you know? You'd probably get hurt less often"

But Ulrich just smiled and threw an arm over her shoulders.

"Nah Yumi. I don't mind your violent side. I like you just the way you are."

Please read and review!! I'll try to have the next one out soon.


	3. Facial hair

Thanks for your reviews! It's nice to know that you all enjoy the story. I say again that your comments and critiques are welcome, as are your chapter ideas.

Facial Hair

His mother hated facial hair.

No, perhaps hated wasn't the right word. Despised? Loathed? Those words meant about the same as hate right? He would check a dictionary later. But the facts remained the same.

His mother _despised_ facial hair.

As a boy Ulrich would often see his father shaving, often more than once a day. Five-o-clock shadow, peach fuzz, it didn't matter. It seemed to Ulrich that if there was even a single hair that his father had missed while shaving then both of them would be submitted to her wrath.

"Beards and long hair are for bums and the homeless. Ulrich you'll never get a respectable job if you look like you just walked in off the street!"

* * *

"Oh come on! How could you miss that! It was coming strait at you. There was no reason to dive!"

Ulrich snorted into his drink and looked over to his friend. "Yes Odd, you tell that goalie what he did wrong. I'm sure he'll be able to hear you through the TV."

If you had told Ulrich, back in his senior year at Kadic, That in just three short years Odd Della Robia would have a stable job, home, be married, and have two kids, he would have laughed in your face.

Though the joke would be on him. Shortly after graduating Odd had reunited with his old flame Sam. The two had moved in together a short while after that. The two children were unplanned but the two had been more than happy when they were born.

Yes. Two perfect little angels Odd had called them. He had embraced fatherhood and raising his twins, now almost a year old. The brother and sister duo were the apples of his eye. They had Sam's dark skin color yet possessed Odd's bright blonde hair. The Nurses on the hospital staff had been baffled at the young children, but Sam had simply shrugged. With a father named Odd, what did you expect?

Currently the two youngsters were happy playing in the portable playpen Odd had brought with him. With Sam having a girl's day out with her mother and Yumi at class the two former roommates had decided to meet at Ulrich's apartment and watch whatever soccer game they could find on TV. Each would take a side and the loser would owe the winner some cold hard cash.

Just incase you couldn't tell. Odd's chosen team wasn't doing so hot at the moment.

Odd glared at his friend "Watch yourself fuzzface. My team is still in this!"

Ulrich swung half-heartedly at his friend. "Don't make fun of my fuzz, I happen to like it."

"I just thought you forgot what a razor was"

Ulrich ran his hand along the stubble growing on his face. "I am a man. If I don't feel like shaving, I don't have to shave."

"Oh yeah? How's Yumi feel about that?"

Ulrich paused, mid-drink. "What's she got anything to do with this?"

"Well, does she like your piss-poor attempt to grow a beard?"

"I'm not trying to grow a beard, I just decided to not shave."

"Well that's a relief, you look horrible with a beard. I'm sure Yumi agrees with me."

"Odd, this is not a big deal, I just haven't shaved in a few days."

Their argument was interrupted by the opening of the door as Yumi let herself in and kicked off her shoes.

"Hey Yumes"

"Hello Odd" As she walked past the couch on her way to her bedroom she leaned over to tug at the hair on Ulrich's face. "And hello to you too scruffy. I see you haven't moved since I left this morning."

Ulrich rubbed his cheek and Yumi laughed as she went to dump her backpack in her bedroom. Odd watched the scene amused. "She doesn't like your beloved fuzz, does she?"

"No." Yumi reentered the room and immediately walked over to the playpen and lifted both children, who had been distracted from their games by her entrance, out of their playpen before joining Odd and Ulrich on the couch. Odd immediately took his daughter who was motioning towards him, but her brother was happy to play with his 'aunt'.

Mia was settled comfortably on her father's lap. But Conner, simple not satisfied sitting still, stood on shaky legs, supported by Yumi, and made grabs towards Ulrich's face. Yumi laughed, encouraging his behavior by helping him waddle closer to Ulrich. Odd smiled at the two as he watched the end of the game, the loss of his team and the payment due was all but forgotten by Ulrich as he was busy defending himself from Conner's 'assault' while trying to 'counter-attack' Yumi. Those two really didn't realize how great they where together, Odd hoped they would figure it out one day soon.

* * *

"Hey Ulrich I know you have work tomorrow but I don't have class so do you think I can take you to work and borrow the car? Odd left the playpen here and I was going to ru-what the hell are you doing?"

Ulrich looked over toward the bathroom door, Yumi leaned against the frame and smiled at him. Dressed in only his sweatpants his face was covered in shaving crème and his razor was in hand. "if me having facial hair is bugging you so badly that you'd sick a toddler on me I was gonna shave it all off."

She laughed slightly, a guilty look on her face. "I didn't mean to make you think that I hated it, I don't mind it I just…Can I make a suggestion?" She walked slowly towards him. Eyebrows raised he handed her the razor. She jumped up to sit on the sink counter before taking it from him. Legs spread slightly apart so that he could stand in-between them and close enough to her so that she would be able to reach, she motioned for him to come forward. Walking forward till his knees met the counter he placed his hands on either side of her and leaned forward slightly. "You're not going to make me regret trusting you with that razor, right?"

"I make no promises." With her hand on his chin to guide his head she pressed the razor gently against his skin. She was taking her time to assure that she didn't cut him. The intimacy of their current position wasn't lost on Ulrich, especially when she locked her legs around him so he would 'stop swaying damn it before I cut you' but he wisely decided to feign ignorance. He rather liked these small moments that they had together, especially like this. It wasn't as good as having her, but it would do. He didn't want to completely ruin this and any other potential moments that they could have by pointing this out to Yumi.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Yumi running a washcloth over his face "There, wait do you think?"

She had shaved most of his face though his sideburns were slightly longer and she had left his chin untouched, giving him a little goatee. He ran his hand over his face, looking at himself in the mirror. He looked back at Yumi who had started to clean up the bathroom counter.

"Do you like it?"

She turned back to him, her eyebrows raised. Abandoning her current task she redirected her attention to Ulrich. Cupping his chin, she ran her thumb over the stubble she had left there, brushing her thumb against his lips accidentally, or perhaps it was on purpose, Ulrich could never tell with her, either way, it sent a shiver through him.

Yumi responded with a smile "I love it."

* * *

Cant promise I always be updating this fast, school and all, but I hope you will all remain patient with me. Thank you for reading!


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